Summary:
"I have a hard
time believing you are as bad as the reputation that precedes you."

Disclaimer:Saiyuki Gaiden
doesn't belong to me.This is most likely a good thing because
nothing -- with the exception of man-sex -- would ever get done if it did.

Random
Notes:This
is just Tenpou messing with Kenren's head.Almost forgot this needed to be posted for 30kisses.

"Damn it all!" Kenren yells to the empty
room."There has to be a lighter
around here somewhere."Five
minutes of searching the messy office had so far produced nothing he could
light a cigarette with; and he wanted one, badly.

For whatever reason, his summons to Field Marshal
Tenpou's office had pushed his nerves into a mild panic mode, and he couldn't
figure out why.He didn't think the marshal
was intimidating.Ok, that wasn't
completely true.He was a bit
intimidating, not to mention eccentric, but he usually turned it off, or at
least down, while they were in each other's presence.

Get
a hold of yourself man.

"I will when I find a lighter," he
announces to the empty office as he shifts stacks of papers and tries not to
knock over towers of books in pursuit of fire…

"Is there something in particular you are
looking for General?" Kenren nearly jumps out of his skin, amazed that he'd
been so distracted by his seemingly fruitless search for a lighter that he hadn't
heard Tenpou come in.

The general turns to find Tenpou standing a scant
foot or two away from him, which startles him so much that he actually salutes.Realizing what he has done, Kenren quickly
returns his hand to his side wondering what in the name of hell is wrong with
him.

"I was just, um, looking for a lighter…or a
match or something," Kenren replies. "I'm not sure what happened to mine."

"Did you check over by the incense burner?"

Kenren follows Tenpou's gaze to a pile of scrolls
and other assorted paperwork but can not see an incense burner, or a lighter,
or even the table that all that mess was supposed to be sitting on.He shakes his head slightly and heads over
to restart his search.

"So, what did ya need me for Marshal?"
Kenren asks as he riffles through the clutter.

"Oh, nothing in particular," Tenpou
begins as he starts leafing through a book on his desk."I just wanted to get a feel for my new
General."

Kenren stops short in his search.His throat has suddenly gone dry.

"Get a feel…?" he repeats as he tries to
resume his search.

"Yes, you know, see how you really are,"
Tenpou states plainly.

"How I really am?"

"Yes," Tenpou replies."I have a hard time believing that you
are as bad as the reputation that precedes you."

Kenren clears his throat and resumes his
search."It comes and goes, sir."

"Sir?" Tenpou repeats.

"Uh.Marshal, Sir?"

"No, that's worse."

"Worse?"

"Tenpou will work just fine."

"Tenpou?"

"Yes, Tenpou.Me Tenpou, you Kenren, yes?"

Kenren stares back at Tenpou, mouth agape."Um, yeah."

"Good, I'm glad that's straightened out."For a second, Tenpou pauses and makes a show
of patting down his lab coat."Now,
about that lighter.Find it yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Well, don't stop on my account," Tenpou
replies as he resumes his book skimming.

After that, silence falls over the spacious office
and Kenren makes up for the lack of noise by shuffling parchments and scrolls
with extra fervor so that the crinkling of paper covers up the emptiness the
silence brought with it.Eyebrows
creased and eyes squinting with concentration, Kenren carries on his search,
almost jumping for joy when he manages to locate the incense burner.His elation however, is short lived.

"Fuck,"
Kenren curses under his breath, then louder, "It's not here."

"Hmm," Tenpou replies as he looks up
from his book and scans the room."Near
the ashtray, perhaps?"

Kenren sighs, but walks around the desk, opposite
of Tenpou.He continues his search,
noticing that Tenpou's attention has not returned to his book.

"I hear that you were quite the charmer over
in the East, is this true?"Tenpou
asks, sounding the slightest bit amused.

"Charmer?" Kenren repeats, deciding that
it might be best that he choose his words carefully."I guess you could say that.More like, where ever I went, the ladies seemed to follow."

"And the men too, yes?"

At that, Kenren looks up from the pile of
paperwork he'd been rifling through.He's
pretty sure his heart has stopped."What
makes you say that?"

Tenpou shrugs softly, "Lets just say I know a
little bird who sang."

"Ah," Kenren replies, frowning."Is this going to be a problem, sir?"

Tenpou's expression remains unchanged as he rests
his hands on the edge of his desk and leans forward slightly, "Do you think it will be a problem?"

Kenren's mouth goes dry again and he tries to get
his saliva going before speaking."No.I don't think it will be."

"Very good," Tenpou replies with the
slightest trace of a smile on his lips and Kenren has to fight the urge to lean
forward towards the marshal.When
Tenpou's gaze falls down to the desktop, Kenren's eyes follow, when he sees
what's been uncovered there, he sighs with relief."Well, Kenren.It
would appear you found my AWOL lighter."

Kenren snorts and plucks it from the desk, pulling
his pack of smokes from his pocket with his other hand.Quickly he fishes one out and
unceremoniously places it between his lips. Before he lights it he glances up
at Tenpou and nearly drops the cigarette from his lips at the sight of Tenpou
who is delicately sliding one between his own lips.Kenren has to hold back a groan when he sees Tenpou's tongue
briefly flick the filtered end of the cigarette, as if he were teasing a pair
of lips he was preparing to kiss.The
sight goes straight to Kenren's groin.He groans, hoping the noise sounded tired and not desperate.

"Everything alright?" Tenpou asks and
this time he is smiling, the
cigarette dangling between his lips.

Kenren nods as he plops down in the chair behind
him, not trusting himself to speak.He
lights his cigarette and takes a long drag before tossing the lighter across
the desk to Tenpou, who catches it easily and light's his own cigarette.A few drags pass before Tenpou speaks again
and all the while both men stare at each other with varying degrees of
intensity.

"I seem to have lost my place in our little
conversation," Tenpou says with an absent minded ruffling of his
hair."Where was it that we left
off?"

Kenren grins and exhales a puff of smoke as he shifts
in his seat."I believe you were
talking about getting a feel for your
new general, sir."